The sky never looked so glorious!

So some of you definitely have seen my photos or have been to my apartment and know of it's lovely views of the sky, the famous Reykjavik church, Hallgrímskirkja, the mountains across the bay and the sunsets!

Here are just a handful of the sunsets I have seen so far:

9 PM on 27 April

10 PM on 5 May

Midnight on 24 June - Sun sets soo far towards the North

9:30 PM on 30 June

11:15 PM on 7 July

11 PM on 12 July

10:15 PM on 13 August

10:15 PM on 13 August - One can see the mountains of Snæfellsnes Peninsula

9:30 PM on 3 September - Sun setting behind the church

8 PM on 11 October - And now the sun sets more towards the south compared to in June

It is really interesting to see the movement of the sun through the seasons, especially from spring to summer and now soon to autumn! The nice thing is I get the sunrise from my bedroom windows so can wake up to the sun - though the timing is much nicer in April/May and August/September!

To remind those who never lived far up north, daylight hours change rapidly between summer and winter. During the summer solstice the sun sets at 12:04 am and rises at 2:44 am, while in winter it is 11:23 am and 3:30 pm. Quite the difference! (Today the sunrise was at 8:32 am and sunset at 5:54 pm).

Anyways, besides the wonderful light that is in the apartment, I have to say this is the best accommodation I have lived in so far! The kitchen/dining room/living room area (with a balcony) is spacious and open. There is a washing machine and clothes dry super quick on the upper floor (we have the top two floors of this apartment complex). 

 

 

There are 4 bedrooms in all, two on the first floor with the kitchen/living room area, balcony, bathroom with shower and the upper floor has the grand piano, more skylights and couches, the second bathroom and the other 2 bedrooms. I am on the lower floor and have a little balcony in my room (though I really use the door as a giant window). My room is a nice size and perfect for my needs, even can host some guests (which I have done successfully now 3 times)! Yes it is bright yellow and orange, but one quickly is used to and actually makes the room feel welcoming (in my head). The apartment complex also has a basement car park, bike storage room and a playground - swings, seesaw and sandbox!

Oh and we have a grand piano and a couch under these nice skylight windows, perfect for Northern Lights when they decide to show themselves and isn't cloudy :)

 The apartment also has a good locale! It is about 10 minutes walk to the main street in town - Laugarvegur, where you can just walk all the way down towards the town hall, parliament past plenty of shops, restaurants and bars. Going out is easy as you just go right to this street and can hop from place to place. To get to the university, I don't have to drive (yay), but can walk in 30 minutes or bike in 15 minutes. I do like the fact that there is some distance away from university as then I don't feel so much like a student but somewhere in between student and research scientist. :)

BONUS: I did put this already up in Facebook, but here was a photo I had taken of the Northern Lights a month ago. Keep in mind I did have to photoshop the exposure time a bit since my camera isn't advanced enough to set the exposure time for long lengths of time.

11:30 PM on September 10

Hotpots & Iceland

Icelanders have a love of hotpots...and well all things hot! 

For a bit of background, geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth and usually limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. As Iceland is not only an oceanic hotspot but also on a mid-oceanic ridge, it's geothermal power plants can produce up to 30% of the country's energy and geothermal heating provides around 87% of its buildings with heating and hot water. 

With all that hot water, no wonder Icelanders have a history of building hot pots (natural and man-made) and swimming pools (outdoor and indoor). There are about 125 swimming pool centers through Iceland for a population of 320,000 and in the Reykjavik/Capital area there are 17. One of my favorites is called Vesturbæjarlaug (pictured above), which added a nice new large hot pot (includes sections with or without bubbles). If only this pool was right in my neighborhood, then I'd probably go quite often during the week, though the swimming pool nearby, Sundhöll, has a nice deep hot pot plus a diving board in their indoor pool.

Apparently there are around 700 geothermal areas throughout the country that could each contain any number of thermal springs with water temperatures ranging from boiling to body temperature to tepid. Here are a few that I have been too:

Klambragil (aka Hot River, very close to Reykjavik): 

Photo by Gillian Clark.

There are two ways to get to this "hot" river spot, from above the valley or below! I have done both, which are lovely hikes each way, though the way from below is longer. Basically there is this gorge/valley with plenty of steam and mud hot springs along it. At the spot where people go in there are both hot and cold springs, which vary very much in temperature - perfect way to find one's own optimal temperature. Several dams are along this river so the groups of people can each have their own "special" spot. I have now been here 4 times with various groups of people and it's been always a load of fun since it such a short drive around from Reykjavik!

Photo by Christian Grimm.

Reykjanes (in the West Fjords):

Photo by Mona Dragosics.

This concrete thermal pool was built around 1925-27, is 52 x  12.5 m, 0.6 to 2.3 m deep and temperatures from 36 to 40 deg C. The water comes in via borehole and run-off from a hotel's heating system (hotel used to be a boarding school up until 50 years ago). No chemicals or chlorine is added, which is consistent with the other natural thermal pools. 

Hrunalaug (near Gulfoss of the Golden Circle):

Photo by Iris van der Veen.

This pool is a few km beyond Flúðir and really a nice addition to the "Golden Circle" tour if you can drive yourself. There is one long, narrow pool with stone walls above a little old concrete building with a grass roof (yay!). The pool is 4.5 x 1.45 m, 50 cm or so deep where the water flows up through the gravel bottom. This water then continues to flow through the building and then out into a concrete cistern (the owners told us it was once used as a sheep bath), which is 1.64 x 1.5 m and 1 m in depth - can squeeze 4 people in quite cozily. The water temp is again 37-38 deg C. I have been here twice with friends and especially enjoy this one, though one should make sure to time it well when not so many people might be there.

Photo by Ben Anderson.

Laugarvallalaug (in the Eastern Highlands):

 

Probably only in the past 10 years have more people heard of this valley thermal spot, besides the locals, and the track used to be hard to get into and out (being in the highlands). When a nearby hydropower dam was built, it became a lot easier with the paved roads. There is a dilapidated round-up hut with a grass roof (love seeing these huts), and further along is a dammed stream where 70 deg C hot water comes up from the bottom and mixes with the stream to create a nice temperature of 37-38 deg C. Down below the bank is where this stream runs off the cliff, creating a natural warm shower/water fall and pool - this is where my friends and I went and relaxed for a good hour.

 
Landbrotalaug (at the end of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula):

There are two pools at this spot - one is a small pond with a stone wall, 1m2, 1.5 m deep and temperature 33-37 deg C. My friends and I went to the other one, which is a shallow pond with a gravel bed in order to lie down in. Basically the hot water comes out of a borehole and collects here due a small dam that was created. We came here after a weekend trip to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, so a lovely way to end before heading back into Reykjavik.

Photo by Hannah Reynolds.

Plus many many more to come....

Something special though is... Nauthólsvík, otherwise known as sea swimming!

Reykjavik had built this "warm" beach at the Nauthólsvík inlet, near the downtown airport. Two breakwaters were built out beyond the inlet with a gap to create a lagoon even with the tides. The shore was filled with "yellow" sand (as black sand is found in plenty of abundance here) imported from Morocco. Hot water is pumped into this lagoon during the summer months and has a temperature of 18-20 deg C during low tides and much closer to sea temps during high tide. There is a lovely centre here with showers and changing rooms as well as two hot tubs, one long narrow one at 38 deg C and another at 25 deg C closer to the lagoon. 

 

Now if you go out past the inlets, one can swim in the actual sea. Now I have been a few times and it did come as a bit of the shock the first time with a water temperature of 7 deg C, brr!! And that was when I borrowed wetsuit boots from someone, definitely was really happy to have the hot pot right there. The subsequent times have been warmer than 7 and even up to 12 deg C, but still a shock to me. At least now I can walk up to my shoulders and tread water. And it is getting to the point where I find it really refreshing to go between the cold and hot water temperatures. Some friends of mine can swim in the sea completely around the two breakwaters and out the other side. Maybe by the end of my 3 years here I can do this??? Who knows...

A lot of this information of the thermal pools was taken from "Thermal Pools in Iceland" by Jón G. Snæland and Þóra Sigurbjörnsdóttir, really nice guidebook!

What exactly did I come to Iceland for? Besides the scenery...

As many have asked about how my PhD is going thus far, here is a summary of the project (as it stands now) and a status update:

Last fall I applied for a position under the title: Does CO2 injection cause toxic metal plumes? The description roughly fit my background so I applied on a whim and very happily was accepted! Paperwork to move to Iceland took about 3 months, but soon enough came my arrival to Reykjavik. 

Bought a used jeep - really need 4WD for all the off-roading (and bad roads), Photo by Becca Neely

 As with any new position, things started off slowly and it took awhile to get settled in (like setting up a bank account and buying a car). I was immediately given a desk in an office for 3 people, though for the moment have it all to myself and have bought some plants to keep me company.

Plants to fill up my large desk

Askja  in March - Earth Science building I work in

There is quite an active graduate student population here, with associations for the geoscientists and biologists organizing events throughout the school year. At least 1/2 of the graduates are actually foreign...well European, but then again many of those are German-speaking or from the UK/English-speaking. There are also quite a number of lectures during the week of a variety of topics from those at the university and those visiting. Every Friday, except during the summer, is "Friday Lunch" at 11:30. This is quite anticipated as the graduate students, professors and researchers rotate to bring a lovely lunch to fill the meeting room table up with bread, fruits, cake, spreads, juice and so on. In addition, on most Wednesdays, my supervisor and his PhD/Post-Doc students - aka the Bambi group - meet and chat over lunch. Those of us situated at the university are actually all female, with one male having just received his PhD in May and the other living in northern Iceland working on his papers.

My rather large lab space

Anyways, the main focus of my PhD research right now is a 2.3 meter high pressure column flow reactor, where I am to simulate CO2 injection into basalt and assess the risk of toxic metal mobility. The previous PhD student, who is now a Post-Doc, had designed the setup and completed some experiments, and then took it apart this past December. She has since been teaching me the ins and outs of the column experiment, cleaning it, putting the pieces back together and testing all the parts out in order to get some more experiments up and running again.

Column when taken apart

The column itself is composed of 7 titanium compartments each with their own sampling port. There are two additional caps with ports as well for the inlet and outlet tubes. The idea is that two pumps are connected to a mixing chamber where CO2 and H2O are mixed together at certain flow rates, then this mixture enters the column from the bottom and flows upward (reason being to remove any preferential flow due to gravity) interacting with the basalt.

Mixing chamber and piston pump

Then it gets all confusing...as there are the 7 sampling tubes from each compartment which are connected to a main sampling device in addition to the outlet tube. These tubings and sampling device are also connected to 2 back pressure gauges to insure that a high pressure is maintained throughout the column. I am still unsure of the whole sampling device setup, hopefully when I put it back together I will understand it more! 

Column put together with all tubings, back pressure gauges within the wooden box on the left

Closer look at the compartment sampling ports each with their own filters and valves, on the left is where I am just all confused, still to learn this aspect of sampling from the column!

Never used syringe pump

One big difference between the old experimental setup and the new setup will actually be the use of a syringe pump (instead of a piston pump) for CO2 that is more precise and also allows for a lower flow rate. This will result in a longer residence time for the CO2-H2O mixture in the column when flowing from the bottom to the top...before it was 8 hours, now we are hoping for 1 month.

As the column is now together and water pumped in (the volume of the column is about 4.5 L), I am now checking for leaks under high pressure and double checking the flow rate of the H2O piston pump so that I will have a nice flow rate ratio with the new syringe pump, which also still needs to be tried out and tested (never been used yet, eek!).

Gold-coated basaltic glass samples for the SEM

Meanwhile...I have been looking at the basalt that used to be in the column and got some preliminary insight using an SEM (scanning electron microscope) at the university, this microscope helps to produce images of the surface of individual particles so I can assess whether there has been alterations after interacting with CO2-charged waters. I am now preparing to use the SEM again (albeit a different one at another institute) to get a better idea of the chemical composition of the basalt. The results will be presented at a conference our university is holding next month, which I am quite looking forward to - also as it will be my first "science" conference ^_^

Agate disk mill

 

Besides the SEM work, I am continuously trying to prepare new material for the next set of column experiments. The material is basaltic glass that was sampled from a mountain near the Blue Lagoon. It is crushed, ground and sieved to the right particle size and then finally cleaned of the ultra-fine particles. Currently I am making use of an agate disk mill, think of it as a machine-run mortar and pestle. Unfortunately, as it is quite old (main parts from 1969), its belt has broken and we keep temporarily fixing it with rubber rings that just stretch when too warm from continuous use. As it is summer and lots of people are off on holiday, a more lasting solution will not be found until August/September. Despite this, I am slowly but surely grinding and sieving in order to obtain 8 kg of material.

Bucket on right to be completely grinded, correct particle size sieved into bucket on left (eventually filled...), bucket in middle will be re-sieved and re-grinded

Lastly, in the background of all the other background work to the column, I am using a geochemical modelling program called PHREEQC to model the column experiments and its parameters. This will allow me to get a general overview of the reactions that I would expect to occur before running the actual experiment. Right now I am double-checking all the parameters used for previous model runs and then will run the model again in preparation for the new experiments.

Hm... anything else besides this...well trips around Iceland of course!!! But that shall have to wait, so sit tight and my next post shall be about my trips to places like West Fjords, the Golden Circle and Snaefellsnes peninsula! This weekend I shall actually be off on another trip to see these famous East Fjords everyone here keeps going on about :P

Hiking up Vifilfell, 30 min drive from Reykjavik, Photo by Mona Dragosics

From limbo land to Iceland!

 

Well my master's graduation from Utrecht University has come and gone. My father was able to fly over for a few days and experience his first time in mainland Europe! Of course I did put him on a bike and ride all around Utrecht, even in his nice suit. Graduation in the Netherlands is a bit different than America, for one thing there are no robes (only when you get your PhD) and you get to sign your own diploma right there!

 

I was able to obtain a visa to stay in the Netherlands for up to another year while I determined my next step. While waiting, I made a trip back to New Jersey as well as attend a good college friend's wedding in the Dominican Republic. This was a lot of fun as I was able to catch up with friends I had made in the Geology bachelor's program. It has be awhile since some of us had been together! You guys have to come to Iceland now :)

Once back in the Netherlands, I went back to considering my options, mainly whether to pursue academia or industry. With this in mind I applied to various positions at companies in Europe, Australia and North America and two PhD positions in Europe. In the meantime I went to visit some friends in Berlin and London and had the opportunity to go to Israel for a Dutch-organized water challenge program called Wetskills. This was a wonderful two week trip to do some sightseeing and work with other Israeli students on water issues. At the end of the program we presented our ideas at an official Dutch-Israeli conference, where we also got a chance to briefly meet the Dutch Prime Minister - nice guy! The participants I met were really great and can only hope that I am able to see some them again in the future!

I went home again to New Jersey for the winter holidays and to Queens, NYC for an impromptu party to celebrate the New Year at one of my best friend's, Liza, apartment. It was also a mini high school reunion with Josh in from California (thanks for all those movie dates!) and Jon up from South America - so nice to see them! The rooftop was a fantastic way to ring in the New Year, with a view of Manhattan, watching the various fireworks throughout the city, drinking champagne and dancing!

Of course I had some big news just in time for Christmas as I was interviewed for a PhD position at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik and was then accepted!! The position came fully funded by the EU for 3 years and is a part of a larger research network within Europe and all I had to do was submit all the visa paperwork and move. Well 3 months later, I was finally able to get on a plane with 4 pieces of luggage and 5 boxes sent via post. While waiting for this process, I was able to hang out with friends in Utrecht for awhile more and also go to the Canary Islands to meet the people in my Europe research network, CO2-React.

As I have already written a post about my meeting there, you can read it HERE. It was a nice (quite social) introduction and really got me motivated to start my new life!

So come mid-March, landed in Iceland for the first time; I seem to like to move to new countries without knowing much about them beforehand. Luckily I found a splendid apartment near downtown Reykjavik with roommates that turned out not to be creeps, plus the graduate students at the university are a very welcoming supportive crowd! Therefore it goes without saying, that the transition to Iceland was not very tough (of course some normal Icelandic paperwork hassle) and I was able to purchase a car, find a bike in addition to making some lovely friends! 

More to come about my PhD project, life in Iceland and anything else going on! TTFN, ta ta for now!